At the end of two days of competition, Ed Ling, the lone Olympic Trap-shooting Brit, fought hard to reach the semi-final of the ISSF World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Seen by British Shooting and many other countries as a test event ahead of the Olympics this summer, the competition was tough against the best shooters in the world.
Spain’s Fernando Alberto led the qualifying stage with a fantastic score of 121, then Jiri Liptak of Czech Republic finished with 119.
Following this, Slovakian, Marian Kovacocy, Guatamala’s Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas and Yannick Peeters of Belgium hit 118.
Ed then joined a selection of nine elite international shooters on 117, including three former Olympic gold medal winners in Giovanni Cernogoraz, David Kostelecky and Alekey Alipov and another former bronze winner Adam Vella.
RIO DE JANEIRO – APRIL 17: 6th placed Edward LING of Great Britain competes in the Trap Men Finals at the Olympic Shooting Center during Day 2 of the ISSF World Cup Rifle/Pistol/Shotgun on April 17, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Nicolo Zangirolami)
In a sudden-death that required 12 clays to determine the final shooter in the top six, Ed held his nerve as it came down to a head-to-head against David, but the Brit smashed four more targets while the Czech faltered after three more.
Perhaps tired after enduring such a tense entry into the next round, Ed then struggled and missed four of his first eight. He recovered to hit six-straight and dropped the final one for a total of 10, matching Marian Kovacocy.
Alberto and Yannick advanced to the gold stage where they hit 12 each and the Spaniard won 7-6 to win gold in sudden-death. Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas beat Jiri Liptake to win bronze.
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